Brands shouldn't be afraid to experiment boldly this year, instead of simply trying to imitate competitors.
I attended and spoke at a host of marketing events in 2007 and have to admit to being disappointed, depressed even, at how boring and unimaginative the digital industry has become now that it's so firmly part of the mainstream. Sure there's Web 2.0 and the mobile, but to someone who survived the dotbomb, there's a tendency for people involved in these areas to be a little too self-congratulatory and uncritical, particularly from a commercial point of view.
Perhaps after 14 years in digital marketing, I yearn nostalgically for those early days when brands were prepared to experiment with something new to stand out from the crowd, or simply to increase their knowledge. It seems that digital marketing has now become more commoditised, with brands taking fewer risks. Maybe the tipping point of diminishing returns hasn't quite been reached yet, but I think it's already fair to be questioning the sanity of doing the same thing over and over again hoping that something different will happen!
Fortunately, the Widgety Goodness Conference in Brighton late last year was a breath of fresh air that has not only restored my enthusiasm for the digital domain, but also rewired my thinking about viral marketing.
I admit to attending with deep cynicism, having been bombarded all year with requests to adopt yet another Facebook application -- few of which managed to meet expectations, let alone exceed them. However, I was prepared to suspend my disbelief simply because the event was put together by U.K. internet veteran Ivan Pope, who had shown me the pre-web light back in the early 1990s. The list comprising of more than 300 attendees was also reassuring. The number of pre-dotcom early adopters increased my curiosity, because they'd been round the block enough to be far from happy clappy.
Ultimately, the event's success was a result of having been built from the bottom up by people passionate about the subject, rather than by people trying to make a quick buck from the latest trend. There isn't the space here to discuss the content in any great depth, nor provide an introduction to the territory. I'll simply explain some of the key themes as I see them, and why I think the Widgety Goodness attitude should be embraced not only across the rest of digital marketing, but within marketing as a whole.
Widgets are being positioned as the 'evolution' of web applications, and by some even the shape of the web to come. What's different about widgets is the way they can be embedded in web pages and therefore distributed all over the web -- rather than at a single destination/URL -- often where you'd least expect them.
Widgets also tend to be very tightly defined in terms of their functionality and content, although there was honest admittance by developers that successful uptake is more a matter of good fortune than any inherent cleverness or great planning. However, it's easy to see why something like a LastFM playlist widget, for example, would be adopted far and wide in the blogosphere which is largely about personal expression. At the same time, platforms such as iGoogle and Facebook provide an insight into how people will not only consume content or express themselves, but also use specific applications or applets via widgets embedded in self-configured dashboards.
It's still early days, so there's no consensus about what and who will drive the adoption of widgets. Instead there was a refreshing 'suck it and see' attitude among developers, whereby the likes of Facebook is seen as a platform for trying out ideas, and where failures arguably contribute as much, if not more, to understanding what works and why than the happy accidents of their successes.
I recommend that marketers wishing to achieve online viral marketing success adopt the Widgety Goodness attitude, and try widgets as a viral mechanic instead of overused formats such as branded videos or advergames. In fact, I'd go further and say that brands should experiment like this with at least a two-figure percentage of all their communications activities, particularly if they're not going to move beyond tactical initiatives and think more strategically about how they engage with consumers. Certainly, they'll have some misses, but they may also learn something in the process. Perhaps as importantly, they'll increase their chances of getting lucky and actually cutting through by doing something new, rather than simply trying to imitate the perceived successes of their competitors.
Justin Kirby is managing director of Digital Media Communications.